AAEF invests 1.8 million euro in Albanian granite producer

TIRANA, Oct. 12 – The Albanian-American Enterprise Fund (AAEF) invested 1.8 million euro in a company on granite quarrying and production, the fund reported Wednesday. The company named AlbGranit is located in northeastern Albania, thus it involves an effort to fight poverty in the country’s poorest area. The company wills initially employe 55 jobs. The company will dig for granite underground at Laku Roshi, 11 kilometers from Fushe-Arrez. AlbGranit will start quarrying next spring and it is estimated it will mine 28,000 cubic tones of granite per year. It will also make granite products. “AlbGranit was set up two months ago. It is majority-owned by the fund and minority shareholders are two local entrepreneurs,” said AAEF manager Martin Mata. Granite exports are estimated at $6.0 million a year, according to the AAEF. This is the first foreign direct investment in granite in Albania since the 1990s. The AAEF, set up in 1995, is a U.S.-sponsored project to promote the development of the private sector in Albania. The Fund offers financing and management assistance to private Albanian companies, formerly state-owned enterprises in their privatizations, Albanian-Western joint ventures, and Western companies interested in Albania.